The piano duet: ten exciting pedagogical benefits.(Forum Focus: Collaborative Performance)

The piano duet often is a student's first chamber music experience and can be an invaluable enhancement of the solo piano repertoire. I have stacks of wonderful duets on my piano and usually reserve the last 10-15 minutes of the lesson for sight reading through them with the student. What a pleasure to watch students become motivated and inspired as they play the piano with a partner. Here are my top 10 suggestions for utilizing the piano duet in every lesson:

Duets teach students to think and listen, in a different way. The musicianship required to negotiate ensemble playing necessitates a different discipline than solo piano. Not only is the student responsible for executing the phrasing, articulation, balance, dynamics and tempo changes of his own playing, he must do so while listening to another pianist.

Duets are an excellent sight-reading tool. My students' sight-reading ability grows immensely with the use of piano duets at every lesson. Sight reading helps a student quickly recognize patterns, chords and other essential elements. This can help shorten the learning and memorization of new repertoire.

Duets teach students how to practice with a partner. Who turns the page? Who pedals? Who has the melody? How do you play when the whole keyboard space is not your own? How do you get out of each other's way when necessary? The two partners must work out any passages that are awkward because of physical proximity, uncomfortable hand and body positions or arm crossings. A student must know what her partner is doing and compromise accordingly.

Duets teach students how to lead. Giving a clear preparatory beat and cueing a partner is an important skill for ensemble pianists. For example, how do we start together? The best way is to cue with a physical gesture.

Duets teach students rhythmic control. With the presence of a partner, the student is more likely to maintain a steady pulse and keep going. Over time, students gain better rhythmic constancy and learn to adapt to any tempo set by a partner.

Duets make students more aware of pedaling. A student is never more aware of pedaling than when he must pedal for someone else or must give control of the pedal over to a partner. Pedaling must be negotiated and ...